Pizza with homemade mozzarella

Daiya cheese has made life pretty easy as a vegan. I throw that stuff on just about everything.

But maybe you’re the kind of person who likes to make stuff from scratch. Maybe you’re one of my millions of followers* who might not live in an area of the country/world that has Daiya readily available.

Here we made Miyoko’s meltable mozzarella and spread it all up on a pizza. (Below is my hubby’s recipe for pizza dough that I used in my recipe for pesto chicken pizza.) Miyoko’s meltable mozzarella was the closest thing to stretchy, delicious, real mozzarella I’ve ever tasted– dare I say, better than Daiya. It takes some prep time; you’ll want to start planning 1 day before the day you want to make the pizza. But it’s SO worth it!

1. Mix together flour, salt and yeast. Add water and olive oil, and knead completely together. Dough may be lump. Cover with a towel in allow to rise for one hour.

2. After one hour, re-knead the dough. Allow to rise, covered, for another two hours.

3. Split dough into two pieces. Knead both parts into balls, and put one in the fridge, wrapped in wax paper (will keep for a few days).

4. On a large, flat, lightly floured surface, flatten the dough and work from the center out, stretching the dough into a large, flat pie. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can toss the dough to stretch it further.

5. Using a fork, poke holes evenly across the surface for a thinner, crispier crust.

1. Process the ingredients
Put the yogurt, water, oil, and 1 teaspoon of the salt in a blender.
Process until smooth and creamy, occasionally stopping to scrape down the blender jar and move the mixture toward the blades.

2. Culture the cheese.
Transfer to a clean glass bowl or container, cover, and let rest at room temperature for 8 to 24 hours, until mildly sharp in flavor.

3. Thicken the cheese.
Transfer to a heavy medium saucepan and whisk in the tapioca flour and carrageenan. For a stretchier consistency, whisk in the optional xanthan gum.
Cook over medium heat, stirring almost constantly with the whisk, until very smooth, thick, gooey, and glossy, 3 to 5 minutes.

4. Form the cheese.
To make a brine, put the ice water and remaining teaspoon of salt in a large bowl and stir until the salt dissolves.
Form the cheese into balls using a small ice-cream scoop, dropping them into the brine as you go. They will harden almost instantly.
Cover and refrigerate, keeping the cheese stored in the brine.

The thickening process:

The forming of the cheese in brine. This keeps for about a week in the fridge. More pizza! Hooray! We sliced it up and laid it in slices on top of the pizza dough after adding some sauce.

Pizza with some Smart Deli Pepperoni, our favorite brand. But you can add any toppings that you damn please.